On This Day: FLARE Asserts the Importance of Studying Presidential First Ladies

Association celebrates its third year in shaping a network of experts and researchers around first ladies history.

First Ladies Association for Research and Education Board Member-At-Large Stacy Cordery (right) speaks about the historic arc of First Ladies Studies alongside seated panelists (from left: Susan Ford Bales, daughter of Gerald and Betty Ford; Nancy Kegan Smith, president of FLARE; and Brooke Clement, director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum. The presentation was part of the First Ladies Conference co-sponsored by FLARE, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation and American University School of Public Affairs and held at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Credit: Gerald R. Ford Foundation)

It wasn’t all that long ago when salient, yet casual conversations were struck among a group of seven women with distinct expertises on America’s first ladies. They talked about their shared interests in research into the iconic women in the White House. They agreed educating the general public about presidential spouses' contributions to the pres…